| |||||||
| Capital | Simcoe | ||||||
| Largest city | Simcoe | ||||||
| Other cities | Waterford, St. Williams, Hillcrest, Dog's Nest, Jarvis, Hagersville, Caledonia, Cayuga | ||||||
| Language official |
English | ||||||
| others | French, Six Nation Languages | ||||||
| Religion | Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Lutheran, Jewish | ||||||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Caucasian, Native American | ||||||
| others | Quebecois | ||||||
| Demonym | Haldies, Norfolkers | ||||||
| Population | 60,000 | ||||||
| Currency | Canadian Dollar | ||||||
| Organizations | United Communities | ||||||
The Dominion of Norfolk-Haldimand, often called either by Norfolk or Haldimand is a county-state in southern Ontario. To the west it borders London, ON, and to the south it borders North Pennsylvania. It is one of the few county-states in this area of Ontario which has not joined the de facto provisional government based in London.
History[]
Pre-Doomsday[]
Norfolk was first created as a county in 1792. In 1800, Haldimand was formed from a portion of Norfolk. It was named after the governor of the Province of Quebec Sir Frederick Haldimand. In 1844 the land was surrendered by Six Nations to the Crown in an agreement that was signed by the vast majority of Chiefs in the Haldimand tract. The two counties were separate until 1974, when they were reunited as the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk.
The county was also the site of a ghost town, the town of Indiana. There were many local tourist spots such as a biker convention in Port Dover on every Friday the 13th. It was home to part of a Six Nations Reserve, and the most fertile lands in Ontario. On Doomsday, they found themselves in a rather pleasant place to be, compared to their family and friends throughout the rest of Ontario.
Doomsday[]
There were several strikes in the greater area; Erie in Pennsylvania, Buffalo in New York, and Toronto in Ontario. Most fallout blew north-east, sparing the Municipality. A month after Doomsday the mayors and equivalent officials throughout southern Ontario met in an emergency meeting in London to discuss simply what the hell was going on. Some counties, like the Municipality of Niagara had managed to maintain stability despite aiding the neighboring American Niagara County which was covered with a considerable amount of fallout from Buffalo. Other counties, such as Essex County had completely collapsed due to nuclear strikes on Detroit wiping out Windsor as well. Elgin County had essentially collapsed but still held something resembled similar to order in some neighborhoods of St. Thomas.
The meeting ended with several counties agreeing to temporarily distribute powers throughout each county in a sort of de facto Ontario confederation, but over time many of these counties instead joined up with London.
Division[]
In the meantime, Haldimand-Norfolk had problems of its own. The Six Nations Reserve declared independence from Canada as the Six Nations of the Great River. This was in result of the discovery of charters which stated that the reservation was in fact 20 times bigger than it is now, and in order to stake their claims the Six Nations created an independent republic. Haldimand-Norfolk reluctantly allowed their part of the reservation as did the other counties, even though they lost much of their fertile farmland.
More problems erupted in 1988 when the city council of Cayuga expressed interest in dividing further into the Six Nations and a London-controlled government. The government of Simcoe, however, was not ready to let more farmland slip from their hands. The northern part of Haldimand, mostly First People or Natives seceded and began dialogged with the isolated Six Nations while the west and south tips of Haldimand were interested in a "town-by-town" government which could pool resources better by town, though it was eventually discovered that the mayor of Cayuga had essentially become a puppet of a raider-controlled government. A plan was enacted at Port Dover on retaking the city of Cayuga with help from local police, soldiers and the biker gangs who were willing. A civil war erupted soon, and while everyone thought that Norfolk would win quickly, the outcome was very surprising. However the Norfolk side had to withdraw after foot shortages.
Contact and Intervention[]
Norfolk struggled alone for the next couple of years, with most of its good farmland gone and the remaining lands barren due to the coming of winter, many in Norfolk starved. If it hadn't been for the fish near Port Dover, and people resorting to hunting deers, birds, and even stray dogs, it is assumed that everyone might have starved. By November 1989 the mayor had committed suicide and for the rest of the next few months there was no central leadership in Simcoe. In the dead of winter, two boats came from the south to Port Dover. One boat was from a group of Pennsylvanian towns while the other was from the city of Toledo. Both had fared the disaster slightly better than Norfolk had and offered to annex the county, but by a slim margin the Norfolkers instead remained independent and pleaded for aid from both. Pennsylvania and Toledo agreed, sending occasional boats stocked with vegetables or live animals to Norfolk.
In 1990, both would return to Port Dover, although this time as North Pennsylvania and the Toledo Confederation. There was still no central leadership and the region was still fragmented between three sides. The North Pennsylvania-Toledo delegates elected a local civilian named James Gardener to take the mayors place. The local town council began meeting again and they decided to re-occupy Haldimand. Within 9 weeks they had left the footsteps of Cayuga with the corrupt officials dead on the ground. The population of Haldimand only numbered at most 20,000 around now, and with Norfolk at no more than 30,000, they couldn't hope to become a nation.
However North Pennsylvania and Toledo eventually created a jointly-controlled regime, the "Provisional Government of Norfolk and Haldimand". The government disbanded in 1992 following a referendum of becoming a republic, joining Toledo or Pennsylvania, or joining London. Most voted under "Becoming a republic" or "Joining London" although they did neither in the end and re-formed into a Dominion. They vowed a continued allegiance to the crown should it still exist, but no word was given on rejoining Canada in the original constitution.
Six Nations Issues[]
Norfolk-Haldimand inherited the land dispute of Haldimand-Norfolk between the Six Nations, meaning they would have to find a diplomatic solution or face war. It was eventually decided that the Six Nations Reserve would remain independent, but they must return the lands taken in the civil war. There was a two year deadline. In 1994 the Six Nations still had not surrendered the lands, most likely due to the known fertility of these lands, leading to a Norfolk proclamation of war. It became the "Palestine of Ontario" as locals referred it since there was always fighting in the area. Eventually a compromise was reached with the Six Nations expanding into the other counties while Norfolk would keep the lands. These would not be the last of trouble with the Six Nations.
Catastrophe[]
It was December 31st, 1999. It was a warm day for this time of winter. People were celebrating in Port Dover, the biker gangs were hosting a bike race, and children were playing on the lake. Out of nowhere, an explosion occurs on the docks. As the old wood goes up in flames, people are screaming and every one tries to put out the fire. It took 2 hours to put out the flames, and by the time the fire died out the docks were burnt beyond recognition and two dozen lie dead. 2 days later a messenger arrives in Simcoe telling to Governor-General of the event. Investigation went under way, and eye witnesses reported seeing several men on boats using Molotov cocktails to torch the docks and surrounding boats. The question is who were these men?
Investigations[]
After the disaster, Norfolk called for an emergency meeting with allies North Pennsylvania and Toledo, claiming they have been attacked by terrorism. The three agreed to investagate the disaster, and after using eye witness reports they caught one of these men while out in Lake Erie. Upon holding the man, who appeared to be of mixed ethnicity, at gunpoint, he refused to answer the questions and instigated the police until he was shot in the head. The answers they would find, however, were within a hidden compartment in the boat. A cache of weapons and makeshift bombs were found and papers by the now-identified "Freedom for the Six" movement detailing future attacks on London and Norfolk-Ontario.
The investigation now had enough evidence to subtract that this "Freedom for Six" was freedom for the Six Nations' occupied lands. Norfolk, Toledo, and Pennsylvanian officials congregated on whether to take action (invade Six Nations, declare war,etc.), but ultimately, they decided not to and just continue to occupy the disputed area, while Toledo and North Pennsylvania would maintain a military presence in Norfolk, so that if a second attack ever occurred they could invade quickly.
2007 and the United Communities[]
By 2007, the Great Lakes had ceased being a dangerous area, and for the first time nations began to look outwards. Due to the many issues that still did plague the area (population control, border disputes, etc.), many wanted a united platform to oversee all these issues being solved diplomatically. Thus, after a congregation of Toledo, North Pennsylvania, Norfolk, and Sudbury politicians in London, they put together a draft for an organization similar to the United Nations. The title was eventually chosen to be the United Communities Federation, but was shortened to the United Communities. Niagara Falls and Waterloo joined afterwards, after showing interest in the organization.
Early on, United Communities peacekeepers attempted to hold peace in the disputed region, but found they were too weak to hold the spot and left it.
Saguenay War[]
Norfolk-Haldimand remained neutral during the Saguenay War, since it had its own problems to face in the disputed region.
Government[]
Norfolk-Haldimand is a Constitutional Monarchy, meaning they are run democratically but recognize a monarchy. In recent years the support for the monarchy has declined, as the number of years without contact with the crown grew. It is unknown what the impact of knowledge of King Andrew will have on the matter.